Room Escape Artist

“ An incredibly immersive way to discover a new reality.”

Every year, thousands of people (including me) gather in the Mojave Desert to live out their wildest cyberpunk fantasies. Jared Butler, owner and creator of the immersive festivals Wasteland Weekend and Neotropolis joins us this week to chat about Neotropolis, including the ever-evolving larp and missions aspect. We also talk about the variety of experiences available, including the interactive modules called “factions” and the distinct daytime and nighttime vibes.

Today’s game is called New City, where every answer is a movie title with either the word “new” or “city” in it, but with a twist. I’ve changed a letter in the title of the movie, and players must give me the new movie title.

For a deeper dive into Neotropolis and Wasteland Weekend, check out our REPOD interview with Jared Butler in Season 7, Episode 2.

• Wasteland Weekend website
• Neotropolis website

Please note that after this episode, we will be changing our publishing schedule for PG’s Playhouse. We will be publishing episodes every other week, and episodes will release on Wednesday night, with show notes to publish the following morning. Thank you so much for listening to our show!

Time Stamps

• 00:00 Publishing Schedule Announcement
• 01:43 Game: New City
• 09:17 About: Neotropolis
• 11:24 Immersive Aspect at Neotropolis
• 15:41 The Community at Neotropolis
• 16:09 Neo During the Day vs. Neo at Night
• 20:59 How Factions Work at Neotropolis
• 25:08 Credits

Guest: Jared Butler

Jared Butler was born and raised in New England and now makes his home in Los Angeles. He started making films at an early age with his older brother, Greg Butler (now an Oscar-winning visual effects artist). Jared started his career working in feature film development at 20th Century Fox before becoming a professional screenwriter. He is also a working voice actor who specializes in celebrity voice matching. He is the owner of Wasteland World, which he co-founded in 2010, the first year of the popular Wasteland Weekend immersive post-apocalyptic festival.

In 2022, Wasteland World started another immersive festival called Neotropolis, creating an original cyberpunk and sci-fi world. Both Wasteland Weekend and Neotropolis are going strong, entering their 14th and 3rd years, respectively.

As for what Jared does in his spare time – he doesn’t have any. But he’s known to do some cosplay now and then.

More Podcasts from Peih-Gee & David

If you enjoy PG’s Playhouse, check out Reality Escape Pod (REPOD), where your hosts David Spira & Peih-Gee Law explore immersive gaming from all angles, alongside guests with incredible experience in this realm.

And by supporting Room Escape Artist on Patreon, you’ll get access to the REPOD Bonus After Show ($5 per month and up) and the Spoilers Club ($15 per month and up) where we chat in depth with creators about iconic escape rooms… spoilers and all!

Production Credits

• Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira
• Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law
• Produced by Theresa Piazza
• Supported by Lisa Spira
• Edited by Peih-Gee Law
• Music by Matt Farthing
• Logo by Theresa Wagner